Emerald City: An Oz Fanedit

What, the original show was not all about Tobias Beecher? One would never guess based on this edit. Brutal, gut-wrenching, and to the point, Gatos brilliantly tells the story of a man being destroyed by a dehumanizing environment, without distracting side plots. This edit grabbed me and didn't let me go until it was over, even if I felt like I needed a shower afterwards. The only flaw is that some unnecessary flashbacks have been left in. They work as recaps for different episodes in the original, but here we're just seeing again stuff we've seen minutes before, and thus they become distracting and completely superfluous. Otherwise, it was all perfect from both a narrative and technical point of view.

Another Gatos triumph. Now, where's my Season 2 edit?

aug 1 2012

This is an excellent edit. Great editing quality, great storytelling. The highest praise I can give is that it felt like a natural movie and not bits and pieces of a bigger story.

FANEDIT RATING
Audio/Video Quality – 9
Visual Editing – 10
Audio Editing – 10
Degree of Editing – 8

(NOTE: “Degree of Editing” is a 100% arbitrary rating that I keep in mind when reviewing edits. This is not meant to insinuate that a faneditor is lazy or not. Some fanedits require a lot more work than others and I take this into account.)

MOVIE RATING
Narrative – 9
Enjoyment – 10

Review by Brumous — July 13, 2011 @ 6:01 PM

Grim, brutal, and unrelenting like the original, this is a story of one man’s descent into prison hell. The hardest job with a TV series fanedit is taking the “raw material”, which is a serial format, and giving it the shape and structure of a movie. Gatos has accomplished this admirably and Emerald City has a well crafted introduction, character development arc, and climax. Sometimes this means that plot threads and characters are introduced and then ignored, but on balance it is a good editing decision to tolerate some of that in order to make the scene selection and sequencing feel right.

Beecher’s story is more disturbing and repellant when consolidated this way, so the narration that gives variety and perspective to the story is welcome, and the timing and amount of narration is good. The cuts throughout the edit flow exceedingly well, and the edit creates a real sense of forward development, even though the episodic feel is not entirely removed. A thought provoking and fairly horrifying experience. 9/10.

higgins jul 22 2011

As an Oz fan, I really enjoyed this edit. Gives the full arc of the Beacher storyline in the first season. Spotted just one awkward shot… Beacher having flashbacks in the hole. I’m sure it was a necessary recap in the show, being a series with multiple viewpoints, several storylines and all, but it felt unnecessary and repetitive in the movie as all the events were still fresh in the viewer’s mind. The end credits looked a bit raw, too, but the movie itself was 9/10 for me.

adabisi aug 5 2012

*This rating was given before reviews were required*